The abductors of the kidnapped Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture (BoA), Alwan Ali-Hassan, have explained his release from captivity.
Ali-Hassan had reportedly regained freedom on Wednesday after nine days in captivity.
The BoA MD was kidnapped by bandits who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train with over 362 passengers on March 28.
His release was confirmed by a senior official at the Bank of Agriculture, who failed to disclose if any ransom was paid for the release of the BoA MD.
There was, however, a report by SaharaReporters which claimed that N100m ransom was paid to secure the release if the BoA MD.
The report said that a mansion of his in Abuja was put up for sale to raise the N100 million demanded by the kidnappers.
However, in a video doing the round online, the abductors said the BoA managing director was released because of his age and for Ramadan fasting.
In the one-minute twenty-one seconds clip, Ali-Hassan was seen standing in front of a damaged Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) Machine Vehicle, sandwiched by four bandits in military camouflage with rifles.
Speaking in Hausa language, one of the bandits said: “We are the people who abducted some people on a train some days back and you can see them.
“This one here (pointing at Ali-Hassan) has been begging us to release him and considering his age and also because of the Ramadan fast, we decided to release him to his relatives.
“But this government should know what it’s doing. It’s nothing. We just decided to let him go. We’ll now let him speak if he has anything to add.”
Another bandit said the Federal Government knows their need.
“You (government) should know that this is just the beginning of what we’re going to do….. Killing them is not a big deal to us. You know what we want and it’s not money. If it’s money, we’ll not be doing this.
“So, it’s left to you to hasten and do what we need from you if not, we’ll do what we want to do to them. This is our message,” he said.
The abducted BoA MD, who also spoke in the video, urged the Federal Government to discuss with the gunmen to secure the release of other citizens in captivity.
He said: “Peace be upon you all. I want you to know that the bandits have sympathized with me considering my age but I also want you to know that I’ve left a lot of people behind (bandits’ camp) and they need urgent help for them to leave this place.
“I hope that the government reach out to the leaders of these people so that they can discuss and have the captives released in time.”
Watch the video below:
Stay ahead with the latest updates! Join The ConclaveNG on WhatsApp and Telegram for real-time news alerts, breaking stories, and exclusive content delivered straight to your phone. Don’t miss a headline — subscribe now!
